Matt Valentine is an entrepreneur and sports executive whose career spans energy infrastructure, private equity, and professional soccer. As founder and partner of Rimrock Midstream, LLC and former founder and chief financial officer of Rimrock Energy, LLC, he has led complex oil and gas gathering, processing, storage, and pipeline initiatives while managing corporate finance, mergers, and acquisitions. He serves on the senior advisory board of Orion Infrastructure Capital and has held leadership roles with Millbrook Equity Partners and the BuddyLove clothing label. Since 2024, he has also chaired Atletico Dallas, a United Soccer League Championship expansion club planning a new stadium complex in Garland and preparing to join a well established regional soccer market. Drawing on his economics degree and varsity soccer experience at Washington University in St. Louis, he brings long term strategic perspective to the discussion of historic sports venues such as Cotton Bowl Stadium.
The History of Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas
Atlético Dallas is a United Soccer League (USL) Championship expansion franchise expected to begin play in 2027. In June 2025, the Dallas Parks and Recreation Board and Dallas City Council unanimously approved a three-year license agreement between the club and the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium, allowing Atlético Dallas to play its home games at the 92,100-seat venue. Originally known as Fair Park Stadium, the Cotton Bowl was the inaugural home of the National Football League’s (NFL) Dallas Cowboys, hosted more than 70 editions of college football’s Cotton Bowl Classic, and was the home stadium for Major League Soccer’s (MLS) FC Dallas and the North American Soccer League’s (NASL) Dallas Tornado.
Built as a 46,000-seat stadium, the Cotton Bowl hosted its first football game on October 26, 1930. During the Texas Centennial Exposition, it was used for the Cavalcade of History, an outdoor play with more than 200 performers. Later that year, 40,000 people filled the stadium to listen to an address from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On January 1, 1937, the Cotton Bowl hosted the Cotton Bowl Classic for the first time. Roughly 17,000 fans witnessed Texas Christian University (TCU) beat Marquette University 16-6 in the inaugural college football playoff bowl game. Attendance was relatively sparse until the 1941 Cotton Bowl Classic between Texas A&M and Fordham University, which drew a sellout crowd of 45,507. Every subsequent game was a sellout, even the historic first tie between the University of Texas and a team of soldiers from Randolph Field in San Antonio during World War II in 1944.
The Cowboys and the American Football League’s (AFL) Dallas Texans called the Cotton Bowl home from 1960-62 and 1960-71, respectively. The Cowboys’ most notable game there came in 1967, when they lost 34-27 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship game.
From its beginning until it was moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington in 2010, the Cotton Bowl Classic featured several historic moments. The 1948 game between Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Penn State was the first to feature two undefeated and nationally ranked teams. It also marked the first time a Black player had participated in the Cotton Bowl Classic. In 1960, the game ultimately decided the national championship between the University of Texas and Syracuse University.
In one of the last Cotton Bowl Classics at the historic stadium, University of Missouri running back Tony Temple broke a 54-year record, rushing for 281 yards in a 38-7 win over Arkansas. Dicky Maegle set the previous record of 265 yards in Rice University’s 28-6 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in 1954.
Several Heisman Trophy winners, including Davey O’Brien (1937), Roger Staubach (1964), Doug Flutie (1985), and Bo Jackson (1986), have played in the Cotton Bowl Classic. While it no longer hosts the annual bowl game, the Cotton Bowl is the host site of the annual meeting between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas football teams.
The Cotton Bowl also formerly served as the home stadium for the SMU Mustangs and is still known by many as “The House That Doak Built,” a reference to SMU running back Doak Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1948.
Finally, the Cotton Bowl was one of nine host sites for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the home venue of the Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas) from 1996 to 2005. It has also hosted USO shows, rock concerts, and speaking engagements from General Douglas MacArthur and religious leaders, including Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale.
About Matt Valentine
Matt Valentine is the founder, partner, and board member of Rimrock Midstream, LLC and previously served as founder and chief financial officer of Rimrock Energy, LLC. He has deep experience in oil and gas gathering, processing, storage, and pipeline development, as well as corporate finance, mergers, and acquisitions. In addition to roles with Millbrook Equity Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital, and the BuddyLove clothing label, he chairs Atletico Dallas, a United Soccer League Championship expansion club planning a new professional soccer franchise and stadium complex in Garland.
